Posting device.



H. c. WATERS;

POSTING DEVICE.

APPLICATION BLED MAY 1, I914.

Patented June 20, 1916.

HZ g7 HENRY c. WATERS, or BOSTON,'MASSAGHUSETTS.

POSTING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jane 20, 1916.

Application filed May 1,1914. Serial No. 835,743;

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY C. s, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of'Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Posting Devices, of

which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in posting devices.

More particularly it'relates to' devices for handling records, as for example, records of cash receipts, so that they can be posted in the book oraccount where they belong with a maximum of ease and convenience, and with a saving of time over that hitherto required.

The invention is illustrated as it may be ultimately be posted are always arranged in alphabetical order, or in geographical or numerical order or according to some other system, and'in a business of magnitude they occupy a number of different books or drawers; but the cash receipts occur pro- ,miscuously. Consequently, when the receipts have been recorded in theorder of their arrival the posting involves not a little confusion, walking back and forth,- and searching, to find the next account after posting each item. This consumes time whichhas a money value, and involves other undesirable arrangements or conditions.

The objects of the present invention are accomplished by providing a sheet upon which items may be entered as they are re ceived, and means for making a copy of each entry in such a form that it can easily be handled separately from the copy of every other entry. All of the copies are then sorted into alphabetical or whatever other ordervv conforms to the arrangement of the accounts to which the items are to be posted. Specifically, this is accomplished by providing in connection with the sheet of original entry a series of cardboard sheets, which may conveniently be five in number, each of substantially the same size as the sheet of origi nal entry, and a sheet of carbon copying paper; and then making the original entries in such locations that each successive entry is spaced at a certain distance from the last preceding one according to a regular system, as by skipping five lines onthe sheet. I After the original entry sheet has once been covered in this manner, the cardboard containing the copies of the entries may be re moved; and the next entries may then be made at like intervals on the sheet of original entry using some of the lines that were previously skipped, and getting the carbon copies of those entries on the second sheet of cardboard; and so the process may go on until all of the spaces in the sheet of original entry have been filled, and the copies of thoseentries have been at the same time distributed over the five cardboards at intervals. The cardboard sheets may be then cut into sections or cards bearing one entry each. Owing to the intervals these cards will be of convenient size for handling, and may be quickly arranged in the same order as the accounts. The posting can then be done from the copies, and can proceed smoothly and rapidly and with minimum consumption of time.

The patent is not limited to the particular embodiment illustrated; and it is intended 'to cover by the claims whatever features of patentable novelty exist in the invention disclosed. I

In the accompanying drawings :Figure 1 is a plan illustrating one embodiment of the invention, or means for practising it; Fig. 2, an edge elevation of the same; Fig. Sis anelevation of the opposite edge of the same; Figs. 4 and 5 are plans of cards produced during practice of the invention; Fig. 6 shows in perspective a detail that may be used in a modified form of applying the invention; and Fig. 7 shows a card produced thereby.

Referring to the drawings, 10 represents a sheet of original entry; 9 is a carbon copying sheet; and 11, 12, 13, l l and 15 are sheets of cardboard or stifl paper arranged in a stack underneath.v Suitable means may be provided for holding a part or all of them in place, and for making clear copies that register properly with the original, one form of means being illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, so that when anything is written on sheet 1.0 the carbon sheet will produce a duplicate mark on the cardboard which is next beneath it. The sheet of original entry is provided with any suitable ruling, or may be entirely blank. As herein illustrated it has the usual horizontal lines for entries of items, and vertical ruling for dollars and cents,'with spaces at the top for'date, number, etc. Holes 16 are represented, to indicate thatit may be a leaf of a book.

The numeral 50 represents a board or platen adapted to support the sheets so that a clear copy is'made by the carbon copying sheet on the upmost cardboard sheet of whatever is written on the original entry sheet. Any suitable means may be employed to hold the sheets in proper place and to carry out the essentials of the invention in other respects. The means shown is adapted to use for hand written-entries, and has a;

' spring clamp 51 adapted'to press the top.

portion ofthe original entry and the carbon' sheets firmly upon the platen. The

platen carries guides or abutments 52 at the top, 53 at the side, and 54 at the bottom,

so that the entire collection of sheets can be stacked against the corner 53, 5 and made to register uniformly together. The cardboard sheets need not be either as widev or as high as the original entry sheet, but need underlie only the lines on-which entries are made; and preferably they do' not, in the type of apparatus illustrated, reach to the clamp 51. Inuse it is then only necessary to remove the topmost cardboard sheet after each going once over'of the originalentry sheet as now to be described.

Atthe side of the platenis a scale marking positions of successive lines on the ,ori

'inal entry sheet, and at suitable interva s,

which intervals as here-illustrated, are at every fifth line, the mark of the scale is heavier thus distinguishing certain lines from the others. These lines are for convenience called key-lines herein, and areusing the lines second below the key-lines cardboard sheet 15, The-result is that alland marked 5, the copies of these; entries being made on the second cardboardsheet, 12. The next entries willbe madeon the lines third below the key-lines O, v'iz., the lines 0, and their carbon copies on the third cardboard sheet, 13,'the sheet 12 having been removed. Similarly original entries are made on the lines at, with simultaneous copies spaced at intervals on the cardboard 1i; and then all the remaining lines on the sheet of original entry, being" the lines 0,.

are filled and their copies obtained on the its original entry is of the original entries are contained on-'t he sales cash sheet in the usual compact form in close proximity to eachother, and also are distributed by copies, over five cardboard sheets,with blank spaces or intervals between them. These cardboard sheets may then be cut by any suitable mechanism into uniform sections or cards, each having a width equal to five lines of the original entry sheets, as illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5. The apparatus should bedesigned so that the car s thus formed are of suitable size,

Eedgean stiffness for convenient and quick handling; Y After they have been distributed or .'rear'ranged into alphabetical order,

or into whatever order ismost convenient, accordingyto the system, on which the accounts are arranged in the ledgers, each Y bookkeeper can take the cards that pertain to accounts in a particular ledger, and can proceed regularly through the stack of cards and through the book, posting the items from the cards. Meanwhile, the handling of the cash itself has not been delayed, and

it has been possiblefor the making of entries to proceed as fast as the cash has come in. a

It will be understood that the clipping of sheets into-cardsismost conveniently performed'b someso'rtof cardboard clipping machine in which thereis a gage for determininga uniform length' to be cut at each stroke. 4 As the sheetsgillustrated are designed, their top edges register with the first key-line, O, of the original entry sheet. Consequently, the clipper gage may be set at a five-line measure, and then it will, at-

each stroke, sever the cardboard ona line that was under one of the key-lines, severing section 11' M12 etc., with a single item on it. So far as the invention has yet been herein described, such item will be either at the to of thecard thus cut, or atsome distance helow'its top, de nding upon how far low the key-line 0 next above it. Figs-1 and 2, however, show ameans which may be einployed, if desired, to bring it about that the names shall be in the center of the cards thus cut, however theiroriginitl entries lie related to'the key-lines. A \SQIIQS of laterally extending holes marked 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, are represented as being made in the "lateral abutment 53, and a pin is represented as adapted to fit into any one of these holes to project for a distance into the space under the original entry sheet, 10. This constitutes an adjustable abutment against which the upper ed of the cardboard sheet may be pushed in order to fix its position. The hole 61 is so located that when the cardboard is thus positioned against the pin60, projecting from hole 61, the line a on which the first entry is to be written will be below it at a distance equal to half the interval between key-lines. C011 sequently, When' this cardboard sheet is clipped into cards, all of the entries madeupon it, being coples'from lines of the first series, a, will be midway of their cards at the position indicated in Fig. 7. The second hole 62 is at a distance below the first hole 61 equal to the width of one of the lines for writing an original entry. Consequently, if this be used asan abutment for the top of the second cardboard sheet, the entries made on lines I) will be reproduced at the same distances below the top of the cardboard as were the entries Written on the series of lines a. The same principle governs the fixing of the other holes 63, 64 and 65; and all cards will have their items centrally ocated. Inusing' this feature of the invention, only one of the set of cardboards is in place at a.

time. WVhen it has been filled the person using the apparatus takes it out, shifts the pin 60 to the next lower hole, and puts the next cardboard against the pin in its new position. It is not necessary in either case to move the original entry sheet 10, which may remain held. by the clamp 51, the lower part of the sheet being lifted to take out the filled copysheet, and'to put in a fresh one if the modification just described be in use. It is found very convenient to use the first described method,placing a stack of five copy sheets under the original entry sheet at the beginning and then removing one when each series has been completed. The corner guides 53, 54, enable the cardboards to be kept stacked in proper position. The location of the item on the card, after it has been clipped, will show to which series the card belongs; and if it be desired to have a further means for easily-discovering the location of the original entry, that may be provided by numbering inadvance the different strata of each'cardboard sheet, which ultimately will be severed from each other, as illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5, where the numbers 9 and 10 on the cards combined with the position of the items at the level indicated by the reference numerals a show that the two cards of Fig. 4 were the lowest two cards from the first copy sliee't, because it is known that there are ten such cards per; copy sheet, of which these are numbers 9 and 10, and that those in Fig. 5 were the lowest two cards from the second copy sheet, an inference drawn by the same process of reasoning. Any further identification desired is easily obtainable by running a rubber-stamp dating wheel over the original entry sheet and over each cardboard sheet pertaining to it.

lVhile the invention has been described as it may be embodied in apparatusfor facilitating a particular bookkeeping operation,

, it will be foundqthat the invention is applicable to other bookkeeping operations and to many other kinds of records and similar uses. It is applicable for use in connection with any business system where it is desired to make entries in close proximity to each other on a sheet, and to distribute those entries to different destinations.

The means for indicating the locations for items, in order to provide regular intervals in which items in other series may later be entered, may take various forms. The form illustrated in Fig. 1 consists of marking a scale beside the sheet, with distinctive marks for the key-lines. The indicating means might, however, consist of distinctive marks printed at regular intervals on the paper itself; or any other suitable means might be employed to indicate the lines, or to aid in selecting the location at which the entries should be made in order to have the entries of each series placed at regular intervals suflicient to contain the similarly spaced entries of the other series. i

I I claim as invention l. A device for handling entries comprising a platen, a clamp adapted to hold an original entry sheet thereon; means indicat ingpos tions on the original entry sheet for a plurality of series of entries, the individual entries in each such series being spaced apart and the several series overlying each other, each with its entries occupying the spaces of the other seriesgmeans for positioning successive copy sheets in determinate registry with the original entry sheet; and a plurality of copy sheets, one for each series having its record space of substantially the same size as the record space of the original entry sheet, adapted to underlie the original entry sheet removably and to engage said positioning means, but not said holding means; said copy sheets being severable into sections for separate handling.

2. A device for handling entries comprising a platen; abutments for positionmg an original entry sheet and successive copy spaces between individual entries in a series. 3. A device for handling entrles, compr1sing the combination, with an original entry sheet of means for spacing entries thereon in a plurality of series, the entries in each series being separated from each other by intervals in which are entries in other series; and a. plurality of copy sheets, on each of which is reproduced one of said series, said copy sheets being SJ'Vtl'flble into sections containing each a single entry-copy, for handling.

4. A device for handlingentries, comprising the combination, with an original entry sheet, of distinctive marks arrangedin auniform scale, indicating positions spaced apart for entries on the sheet in a plurality of series, the intervals between" the entries in each series containing entries in other series of said plurality; and a plurality of copy sheets, one for each series, severable for handling into sections, each containing the copy of a single entry, and having substantially the'widtli of one entry plus one interval.

5. The art of making, assembling, and at the same time separating memoranda, comprising the entering of a portion of the items on an assembly sheet at determinate intervals apart extending over the sheet,

and simultaneously making copies thereof on a' copy sheet; removing the copy sheet; entering additional items in said intervals on the assembly sheet, at similar determinate intervals extending over the assembly sheet and including the first magle-entries; and making'copies thereof simultaneously on another copy sheet; the original intervals on the assembly sheet being by this method filled with items, while the copies of such items are individually separated by spaces; and severing the copy sheets into sections each containingthecopy of one item; for handling.

Signed by me at Boston, Mass, this fourth day of April, 1914.

HENRY O. WATERS. \Vitnesses q Evnnn'rr E. KENT,

JOSEPH T. BRENNAN.

Cup!" at this patent any be obtained for he cent: each, by addressing the Communion: a! latent:-

' Washington, D. 0." 

